Citation NR: 9715926
Decision Date: 05/07/97 Archive Date: 05/16/97
DOCKET NO. 91-45 740 ) DATE
)
)
On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Boston,
Massachusetts
THE ISSUE
Entitlement to service connection for post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD).
REPRESENTATION
Appellant represented by: Disabled American Veterans
WITNESS AT HEARING ON APPEAL
Appellant
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD
Daniel R. McGarry, Associate Counsel
INTRODUCTION
The veteran had active service from June 1969 to April 1971.
Service personnel records show that he served in the Republic
of Vietnam from March 1970 to April 1971.
This matter came before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals
(Board) on appeal from a decision dated in January 1991 by
the Boston, Massachusetts, Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) Regional Office (RO). The Board had previously denied
entitlement to service connection for PTSD in a June 1989
decision which was final. In May 1992, the Board determined
that new and material evidence had been submitted to reopen
the claim. The matter was remanded for additional
development, including verification of the stressors to which
the veteran claimed to have been exposed and to conduct a
Department of Veteran’s Affairs psychiatric examination. In
July 1992, a board of two VA psychiatrists concluded that the
veteran has PTSD. The matter was remanded again in July 1996
for verification of the occurrence of the stressors upon
which the diagnosis of PTSD was based.
CONTENTIONS OF APPELLANT ON APPEAL
The veteran contends that he has current disability from PTSD
as a result of exposure to stressors during his duty in the
Republic of Vietnam.
DECISION OF THE BOARD
The Board, in accordance with the provisions of 38 U.S.C.A.
§ 7104 (West 1991 & Supp. 1996), has reviewed and considered
all of the evidence and material of record in the veteran's
claims files. Based on its review of the relevant evidence
in this matter, and for the following reasons and bases, it
is the decision of the Board that the evidence supports the
grant of entitlement to service connection for PTSD.
FINDING OF FACT
The veteran has current disability from PTSD which was
incurred as a result of in-service exposure to stressors
during his tour of duty in the Republic of Vietnam.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
Entitlement to service connection for PTSD is warranted.
38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1110, 5107 (West 1991); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303,
3.304 (1996).
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
Initially, Board finds that the veteran’s claim is well
grounded within the meaning of 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(a). This
conclusion is supported by medical evidence that the veteran
has PTSD as a result of exposure to stressors during his tour
of duty in Vietnam. The record contains evidence that one
such stressor, incoming rocket fire and shelling at Cam Rhan
Bay, actually occurred. The RO has assisted the veteran in
all necessary matters, including seeking and securing all
possible treatment records. The Board is satisfied that all
relevant facts which may be developed have been properly
developed, and that no further assistance is required to
comply with the duty to assist mandated by 38 U.S.C.A.
§ 5107.
Service connection may be granted for a disability resulting
from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active
military service. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 101(16), 1110 (West 1991);
38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (1996). For service connection for PTSD to
be awarded, three elements must be present according to VA
regulations: (1) a current medical diagnosis of PTSD; (2)
medical evidence of a causal nexus between current
symptomatology and the claimed in-service stressor; and (3)
credible supporting evidence that the claimed in-service
stressor actually occurred. Moreau v. Brown, 9 Vet. App. 389
(1996). A stressor involves exposure to a traumatic event in
which the person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted
with an event or events that involved actual or threatened
death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical
integrity of self or others and the persons response involved
intense fear, helplessness, or horror. See Cohen v. Brown,
No. 94-661 (U.S. Vet. App. March 7, 1997). The sufficiency
of a stressor is a medical determination and is presumed by a
medical diagnosis of PTSD. Cohen, Id. The occurrence of a
stressor is an adjudicatory determination. If the claimed
stressor is related to combat, service department evidence
that the veteran engaged in combat or that the veteran was
awarded the Purple Heart Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, or
similar combat citation will be accepted, in the absence of
evidence to the contrary, as conclusive evidence of the
claimed in-service stressor. “Credible supporting evidence”
of a noncombat stressor may be obtained from service records
or other sources. Moreau, Supra. However, the United States
Court of Veterans Appeals (Court) has held that the
regulatory requirement for “credible supporting evidence”
means that “the appellant’s testimony, by itself, cannot, as
a matter of law, establish the occurrence of a noncombat
stressor.” Dizoglio v. Brown, 9 Vet.App. 163 (1996).
Initially, the Board finds that the veteran was not engaged
in combat with the enemy. In fact, the veteran has
acknowledged that he served primarily in a combat support
role during his tour in Vietnam. Service personnel records
show that the veteran served in the Republic of Vietnam from
March 1970 to April 1971. During that time, his military
occupational specialties were longshoreman, winch operator,
and cargo handler. The veteran did not receive any combat
citations. He stated that he volunteered on several
occasions to ride with a convoy delivering supplies.
However, on the one occasion such a convoy was attacked, he
did not engage any enemy forces or witness any casualties.
Nor has the veteran asserted that he was engaged in combat
during the periods of guard duty he performed. The
occurrence of the noncombat-related stressors to which the
veteran claims to have been exposed must be independently
corroborated.
The veteran has asserted that he was exposed to many
stressors during his tour in Vietnam. In a July 1991
statement, he asserted that soon after his arrival at Cam
Rhan Bay, the facility came under fire from enemy shelling.
The veteran was taking a shower at the time and had to run a
short distance to a bunker while naked. In another incident,
the veteran and other soldiers had finished a work shift one
morning and had been on an area of beach before going to the
mess hall. Several minutes after leaving the beach area, it
was hit by exploding shells. The veteran reported that his
reaction to these incidents was intense fear of dying.
In July 1992, a Board of two VA psychiatrists reported that
the veteran’s military duty “involved him in life-threatening
stressor-like events” including being under attack from
sniper fire and shelling on the day of his arrival at Cam
Rhan Bay. Also cited as a stressor was a subsequent shelling
attack on the base. The panel noted that the veteran had had
various diagnoses over the years until his symptoms
“coalesced” into the appropriate diagnosis of PTSD. In a
report of psychological testing dated in October 1992, the
cited stressors included near misses of exploding shells, and
“physical assault, attack by bombing.”
Documentation provided by the U.S. Army & Joint Services
Environmental Support Group confirms that Cam Rhan Bay came
under attack from mortar and rocket fire at the end of March
and in early April 1970. Some of the rounds impacted in the
vicinity of a pier. Others caused moderate damage to a
warehouse and other buildings and equipment. Cam Rhan Bay
was under “significant attacks” during the second week of
June 1970. Three areas of the facility came under attack
from rockets, mortars, satchel charges, and sappers.
The veteran has asserted that he was exposed to other
stressors, including serving alone on guard duty in the
jungle and on barges, participating in a convoy which was
attacked, witnessing a member of a patrol fall through a rock
crevice and become severely injured. During his evacuation
the soldier was accidentally dropped from a helicopter, and
later died from his injuries. Other claimed stressors
include witnessing a jeep accident in which one soldier was
pinned under the vehicle and suffocated and another accident
in which a soldier’s ankle was severed. The veteran has also
claimed he was assaulted on several occasions by other
soldiers. Except for one of these claimed stressors, the
veteran has been unable to provide sufficient details to
allow corroboration. The exception involves the soldier who
died from injuries sustained on the patrol and during his
evacuation. The veteran has provided the soldier’s name and
date of death. Although, the details surrounding that
soldier’s death have not been verified, the Board finds such
verification unnecessary. One of the stressors which is the
basis for the veteran’s diagnosis of PTSD, that is, the
shelling of Cam Rhan Bay, has been independently corroborated
by documentation provided by the U.S. Army & Joint Services
Environmental Support Group.
In summary, the veteran has been clearly diagnosed to have
PTSD. The stressors upon which the diagnosis is based
include the veteran’s witnessing shelling and rocket attacks
at Cam Rhan Bay while he was stationed there. The
sufficiency of those stressors to support the diagnosis is
presumed by the diagnosis. The only issue remaining for
adjudication is whether the claimed stressors actually
occurred. The Board finds that the record contains
independent corroboration that the claimed stressors, the
shelling and rocket attacks at Cam Rhan Bay, actually
occurred. Therefore, the Board concludes that entitlement to
service connection for PTSD is warranted.
ORDER
Service connection for PTSD is granted, subject to the
controlling regulations applicable to the payment of monetary
benefits.
JAMES W. ENGLE
Acting Member, Board of Veterans' Appeals
38 U.S.C.A. § 7102 (West Supp. 1996) permits a proceeding
instituted before the Board to be assigned to an individual
member of the Board for a determination. This proceeding has
been assigned to an individual member of the Board.
NOTICE OF APPELLATE RIGHTS: Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7266 (West
1991 & Supp. 1996), a decision of the Board of Veterans'
Appeals granting less than the complete benefit, or benefits,
sought on appeal is appealable to the United States Court of
Veterans Appeals within 120 days from the date of mailing of
notice of the decision, provided that a Notice of
Disagreement concerning an issue which was before the Board
was filed with the agency of original jurisdiction on or
after November 18, 1988. Veterans' Judicial Review Act,
Pub. L. No. 100-687, § 402, 102 Stat. 4105, 4122 (1988). The
date which appears on the face of this decision constitutes
the date of mailing and the copy of this decision which you
have received is your notice of the action taken on your
appeal by the Board of Veterans' Appeals.
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